title: Neutrophil defensins: their possible role in allergic asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neutrophil defensins, originally identified as broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides, have been implicated in the regulation of inflammatory and immunological processes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether the in vitro challenge of neutrophils from patients with bronchial asthma with allergens stimulated the release of alpha-defensins and whether levels released were dependent on lung infections.
  
  
  METHODS
  The neutrophils were cultivated with different agonists and the concentration of alpha-defensin in cell-free supernatant was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neutrophils from allergic patients released alpha-defensins via an allergen-dependent mechanism. Our results indicate that the in vitro activation of neutrophils is highly allergen-specific. In this context, allergens other than those which produced clinical symptoms did not elicit alpha-defensin release, and allergens had no effect on neutrophils from healthy donors. However, neutrophils from both allergic patients and healthy controls were able to release alpha-defensins upon treatment with PMA. In the allergen-stimulated neutrophils, cells from asthmatic patients stimulated with a sensitizing allergen showed a significantly higher production of alpha-defensin under respiratory tract infection than cells from the same patients without such an infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neutrophils from allergic patients release alpha-defensins via an allergen-dependent mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Servicio Regional de Inmunologia y Alergia, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ventura
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chamorro
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aroca
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Orovigt
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Puente
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Asturias
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monteseirín
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000276:immunology*; D023084:alpha-Defensins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D023084:alpha-Defensins